Subconscious
by Starring Piper
Summary: Fourth in the Trust series started oh so long ago. The sisters had cast a spell to relieve Piper of her pain, but it has some unforseen consequences.


A/N: Hey, guys. It's me, Starring Piper. I don't know how many of you remember me, but I'm back with the sequel that I promised many of you a very very very very long time ago…anyways, I don't know if there's anyone who's still interested in reading it, but here it is. Lol…let's just hope I get farther than the first chapter before dying as a writer again. Wish me luck, k? Anyways, for those of you who don't know, this is fourth in a series of angsty stories centered around Piper. Start with either Trust (or BIM, the prequel to Trust), and read through Starting Over, and Old Habits die hard, if you so wish. Anyways, hope people enjoy this new installment.

Though they all thought they'd be too nervous to fall asleep, in the end, they passed out on the couch together. The stress of the past few days—hell, the past few months—had been intense, more than intense, and all of the sisters were exhausted on a level they couldn't even really begin to process.

So, this added stress of the poem turned spell, what could be there only hope in terms of healing their sister, had proved to be too much. Around two in the morning (cup of coffee number five) they drifted over to the couch to spend the rest of the evening in front of the TV, and one by one, fell into a restless slumber.

"Jeez. What happened to you guys last night? No offense, but you all look like shit. Had a little too much fun hitting the clubs?"

Prue blinked groggily, her still sleepy brain trying string together the words she had just heard into a phrase with some sort of meaning. She sat up slowly, and Piper smirked at her, one hand on her hip, from her vantage point beside the couch. Prue did not understand how Piper could be so god-damned cheerful in the mornings, up and dressed with the dawn, it seemed, make-up done perfectly, a cheerful teasing glint in her eyes as she regarded her half-dead siblings on the couch…

The implications of what she was seeing hit Prue all at once, and she sat up like a shot. Piper. Talking. Teasing. Smiling. Up, dressed, make-up, happy, conscious—the various adjectives that could be used to describe the current state of her sister came rushing at her both individually and all together as a whole, until Prue could hardly get her breath. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. She was ok. Oh my god, she was ok.

Prue half-fell off the couch in her attempts to get over to her sister. Her steps were shaky, her whole body quivering as she reached out to grip her sisters' hands in her own.

"Piper?" Her voice sounded hoarse and quaking, even to her own ears. "Are you—is this really—am I dreaming?"

The look that Piper gave her was half-amused, half-worried. "No, you're not dreaming…unless I am too. And I don't know why I would have a dream about the three of you passed out on the couch after spending too much time as guests at P4. My dreams usually tend to be a tad less mundane than that." She said the last with a half-smile on her face, obviously still in a teasing mode.

It was too much. Still clutching Piper's hands, Prue sank down to the floor, drawing her sister down with her, and began to sob. Worry replaced all amusement in Piper's eyes as she leaned in toward her big sister, drawing her close.

"Shhhh-shhh-shh…it's ok, it's ok. Honey? What's the matter? Prue? Sweetie, what happened?" Piper slowly rocked Prue back and forth, and her gently inquires, so completely full of Piperness, only served to make Prue cry even harder.

"You-you're ok," she managed finally, stuttering the words out between sobs.

Piper looked perplexed. "I'm ok? You're upset because I'm ok?"

Prue half-laughed at that through her tears, and leaned her head against Piper's shoulder. They remained quiet for a long moment after that, Piper still gently rocking, as Prue's sobs began to abate. Finally, as Prue began to accept that Piper's embrace around her was real and solid and not going to go away, she managed to get control of herself, and the sobbing quieted to shaky breathing. Lifting her head off Piper's shoulder, she sniffed, and wiped the tears away from her face.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, looking at Piper. "I shouldn't have lost it like that, I just…god, I'm so glad that you're ok. Or, I don't know if you're ok, exactly, but at least better than you were before, when we were so sure that we were going to…" Prue's voice trailed off there, unable to complete the last two words of that sentence. _Lose you_.

Piper looked quizzically at her sister, brushing a piece of hair out of Prue's face. "Of course I'm ok," she said confusedly. "Why wouldn't I be ok? Did you have a bad dream or something? Whatever it was, it wasn't real. I'm right here. I'm fine."

Prue stared at her sister, comprehension slowly dawning. Something was wrong here. _She didn't remember_. Or she didn't know, or…something was funky. The spell had made Piper ok again, emotionally, but…it seemed to have done so by erasing her memories of the past couple…whats? What exactly did the spell erase from her memory? It seemed like everything that happened in the past few months was so fraught with pain and emotion that there would be no logical place where the spell could just decide, ok, here. She's not going to remember anything from this point on out. Prue tried to process all of this, her initial elation fading as she wondered just what sorts of consequences they were facing as result of the spell.

Piper was still looking at her sort of quizzically, and Prue had to pull hard to yank herself back into the present. As much as she wanted to question her sister—find out exactly what was going on here—something told her now was not the best time. She needed to tread carefully here. They all did. At least until they figured out exactly what was going on in Piper's mind, and how fragile her current balance of peace was.

Forcing a smile onto her lips, Prue nodded at Piper. "Yeah," she said, voice still a little shaky, "it must've been a nightmare. Sorry to have freaked out like this, it just felt so real…I guess I was also still half asleep and caught up in it when I saw you standing there, so I still had all those dream-emotions going on in my head…"

Piper smiled at her. "Hey, don't worry about it. I can't even begin to count the number of times you've comforted me after a nightmare. I'm glad I can return the favor. I was pretty scared though, for a minute there. I thought something really bad had happened."

Prue laughed weakly, not sure how to respond. Piper pushed herself up off the floor, grunting a little as she stood. "Ooph. God, I must be getting older. It should not be that hard to get up. I feel like a weak noodle."

Prue said nothing, pushing herself up to her feet as well. What was there to say? Piper, you feel weak because you've spent the last few weeks in the hospital, and the weeks before that draining yourself of blood and denying yourself food? Somehow, she didn't think that would be the best way to approach the current state of affairs.

Piper gave Prue's hand a quick squeeze, obviously still sensing the worry and uncertainty radiating off of her sister.

"I'm going to go start breakfast. Any special requests?"

Prue shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Right now I think I just need some coffee."

Piper smiled at her knowingly. "I've got some in the kitchen. If you don't care then, I think I'll make chocolate chip pancakes. Phoebe's been begging me for weeks, and I keep putting her off. Everything should be ready in about half an hour, if you want to shower or something, to fully wake up. Plus you'll be sure to get the rest of the hot water, seeing as how those two are still snoozing."

Prue nodded absent-mindedly. "That's probably a good idea."

"Do you think I should wake these two goons? I know they both have busy days today, and I don't want them to be late, but they look so tired. I hate to disturb them."

"I'll do it," Prue said hurriedly. "Why don't you get started on the food? I'm sure Phoebe will your best friend forever if she wakes up to the scent of your pancakes."

Tossing a grin over her shoulder, Piper headed into the kitchen. As soon as she was out of earshot, Prue began to roughly shake her two other sisters.

"Paige! Phoebe! You need to wake up, _now_. We have to talk. Our spell seems to have had some unexpected side affects."


End file.
